A PENSIONER who lost two children in the Aberfan disaster has been left devastated after thieves stole valuable paving stones he laid at the time of the tragedy.

Cliff Minett, 76, named his bungalow Carlyn, where the 2ft sq slabs were taken from, in memory of son Carl and daughter Marylyn who were killed when a landslide buried Pantglas Junior School on October 21, 1966.

The father-of-six - daughter Gaynor survived the disaster - couldn’t believe it when he discovered flagstones from his garden path had been stolen in the middle of the night.

Then, to add insult to injury, 24 hours later the thieves came back for more.

In total, 22 stones weighing around one tonne were taken from Mr Minett’s property in Bryntaf, Aberfan, as he and wife Iris slept.

“It made me feel a bit sick after all these years to have something like this happen,” said the chairman of the village’s Children’s Memorial Garden.

“I was building this house at the time of the disaster and it hurts me to think what was happening when they were being laid.

“I’m not the only one its happened to, one of my daughters has had some wall stones stolen too.

“I’m disgusted. These people don’t think twice about taking people’s property. They just want to make money for drink and drugs.”

What makes it even more frustrating for Mr Minett is that he thinks he heard the perpetrators driving from his house in the early hours of the morning on November 30.

“I heard something in the middle of the night the first time it happened, like a lorry struggling to get up the hill behind my house, but you don’t think anything of it at the time,” he said.

“The next morning my wife went outside to put the washing out and she saw the stones had gone from the path.

“I didn’t expect them to come back the second night.”

Pc Shane Thomas of South Wales Police, based in Treharris, confirmed 15 incidents of flagstone theft have occurred around Aberfan in the last three weeks.

He said more than six tonnes of stone from the Bryngoleu, Pleasant View, Aberfan Road and Perthygleision Crescent areas had been fleeced in the current spate of thefts.

He said: “We want to put out an appeal to people in the area that if they have information they can come forward.

“I’m sure someone knows something. A person might see these people and not think anything of it. They might think they are workmen.

“We’ve had spates of it in the past and all these people are doing it for is to make money.

“What we know about the people who are doing this is that they are very organised and targeting specific areas.”

If you have any information call Treharris Police Station on 01685 724529.